President Trump has spoken out on the recent wave of child abuse allegations that have rocked Catholic Church diocese across the United States, describing the scandal as "devastating" for the religion.

The Catholic Church has been plagued child abuse allegations over the years

Speaking to the Daily Caller, Trump said, “It’s so sad to watch,” when asked for his thoughts on the issue, lamenting “the numbers, the length of time, you know, going back 70 years, I think it’s having a really negative impact on the Catholic Church. …

“To me it’s one of the sadder stories ’cause I respect so much the Catholic Church. And to me it’s a very sad story.”

The sexual abuse scandal arose in recent weeks after the release of a Pennsylvania grand jury report detailing decades of abuse within the state over the previous decades.

The report implicated dozens of priests in sexual abuse and the highest levels of Church leadership in the U.S. in covering up these abuses.